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Long Tail tits

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  • 23-07-2011 7:04pm
    #1
    Kess73
    Registered Users Posts: 25,560 ✭✭✭✭


    Some time back, think it was last year, I bemoaned the fact that I have never come across LTTs here in Ireland despite them not being an uncommon bird.

    Today that changed big time.


    I came across literally dozens of them, along with very large numbers of young coal, great , and blue tit.


    I was in the small nature walk/forest walk which is just outside Foynes (county Limerick) as you head out the N69 towards Kerry.


    As I wondered around I could hear many bird calls that were very similar to that of coal tits but at the same time different.

    My head went straight away to LTTs and I started looking about even more intently. For nearly 20 minutes I spotted nothing that resembled a LTT and was resigning myself to another futile search.

    Then the floodgates opened as up near the entrance beside the car park, a small army of birds came towards me, then over me, and on to the next cluster of trees.

    Non stop Long Tail tits for a number of minutes, just bird after bird after bird, with various other young tits mixed in amongst them.

    I spent the next 20 or so minutes just watching them move around, hanging from thin branches using one leg etc.

    Was delighted with myself, and would recommend the walk for anyone who has not been there for a bit. Today was my first time in there since the area was redone and the hard work down has left a very nice little walk. Never have I seen so many tit together in one area. It was like they were the only types of bird in there, there were that many.

    I also saw a number of red squirrel which just added to the day.

    Great how something so simple can really boost one's mood and put a smile on the face.


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    #2
    tricky D
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,700 ✭✭✭tricky D


    They're great fun to watch with their acro/aerobatics. Never saw many of them around my area until last winter.


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    #3
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    I always love to see them. 63 in the garden here a number of years back, is my highest count of them.


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    #4
    Kess73
    Registered Users Posts: 25,560 ✭✭✭✭Kess73


    Tiana Breezy Rite wrote: »
    I always love to see them. 63 in the garden here a number of years back, is my highest count of them.


    Would easily have been that kind of number where I was today and the other tits in the area would have brought the number up to a three figure one.

    You are a lucky so and so to have them in your garden. I could have spent hours watching them.Was so much fun to watch the LTTs do their stuff.


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    #5
    ppink
    Registered Users Posts: 1,458 ✭✭✭ppink


    Tiana Breezy Rite wrote: »
    I always love to see them. 63 in the garden here a number of years back, is my highest count of them.

    ok.....how did you count 63 little birds? I find it very hard ot count little birds unless they all line up on the windowcill:p. there must be a method if you are coming up with a definate 63:)


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    #6
    Kess73
    Registered Users Posts: 25,560 ✭✭✭✭Kess73


    ppink wrote: »
    ok.....how did you count 63 little birds? I find it very hard ot count little birds unless they all line up on the windowcill:p. there must be a method if you are coming up with a definate 63:)


    maybe he took a photograph and counted what he saw in it?


    Having said that I have counted sparrows and similar when in large numbers and would be fairly confident in my counts.


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    #7
    ppink
    Registered Users Posts: 1,458 ✭✭✭ppink


    How did you do it Kess? Were they flying?

    I just tried to count my swallows flying and I had to lie down for 30 mins after:D............I can count them on the wires though

    A photo is a good idea!


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    #8
    Kess73
    Registered Users Posts: 25,560 ✭✭✭✭Kess73


    ppink wrote: »
    How did you do it Kess? Were they flying?

    I just tried to count my swallows flying and I had to lie down for 30 mins after:D............I can count them on the wires though

    A photo is a good idea!


    Sparrows and redpoll in large numbers I can count fairly quickly whilst watching them move about in my garden.

    Have had an interest in nature since I was a child, so maybe a few decades of watching has gotten me used to counting quick moving creatures


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    #9
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    ppink wrote: »
    ok.....how did you count 63 little birds? I find it very hard ot count little birds unless they all line up on the windowcill:p. there must be a method if you are coming up with a definate 63:)

    I have been counting birds for surveys, and my own records, for 40+ years. The LTTs were easy enough as they were working their way across the Birch trees in the garden and could be counted individually. 5000+ waders is a different method. Here we use estimates by counting 10, then seeing what 100 looks like and then estimating 100, 200, 300 etc. A clicker counter is handy as you can press the button to count units or 10s etc without having to keep a rolling total in your head. Having 2 or more people counting with you allows you get a reliable average from each person's counts. In the garden it can be handy to count in 2s. :)


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